While conspicuously absent from early sparring in the run-up to Japan’s general election next month, veteran lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa has returned to the spotlight.

The political kingpin who orchestrated the Democratic Party of Japan’s historic victory in 2009 then split the party with a mass defection this summer announced Tuesday that his 5-month-old party of 48 lower house lawmakers will merge with the newly formed Japan Future Party under the umbrella of anti-nuclear power.

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